20 Years Ago: The 1st World Trade Center Bombing

At 12:18 p.m. on Friday, February 26, 1993 an explosion rocked the basement of World Trade Tower One – the NorthTower - and rocked the American psyche as the first attack by foreign terrorists on U.S. soil occurred. Six people died, more than a thousand were injured and over 50,000 were evacuated from the complex. The bomb was composed of over a thousand pounds of urea nitrate and delivered via a rented truck. It was a homemade fertilizer-based explosive that created a massive crater 150 feet wide and five floors deep. Over the ensuing weeks investigators would sift through over 6,800 tons of rubble.

Seven men were found to be responsible for the attack: Ramzi Yousef, Mohammad Salameh, Abdul Yasin, Mahmoud Abouhalima, Ahmed Ajaj, Nidal Ayyad, and Eyad Ismoil. All of them were brought to justice in the United States except for Yasin, who has not been seen since he was interviewed in Iraq by 60 Minutes in 2002.

The six victims of the attack were Monica Smith (35) and her unborn child, Bob Kirkpatrick (61), Bill Macko (47), Stephen Knapp (48), John DiGiovanni (45) and Wilfredo Mercado (37).

The granite memorial fountain put in place over the site of the bombing in 1995 fell victim to the September 11^th attacks.